Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

I get the odd sales call from humans which I don't object too much to,
but recently I've had about one automated call a day. These are
usually about noon, but yesterday I had a call at 1am in the night.
This is really intolerable.

I did a search and found the Telephone Preference System :
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/tps/

But how can you inform an automated call that you are registered with
the TPS?

What to do about this - ideas?

Cordially,

andy evans

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

"Eusebius" wrote in message
...
I get the odd sales call from humans which I don't object too much to,
but recently I've had about one automated call a day. These are
usually about noon, but yesterday I had a call at 1am in the night.
This is really intolerable.

I did a search and found the Telephone Preference System :
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/tps/

But how can you inform an automated call that you are registered with
the TPS?

What to do about this - ideas?

First, you can't easily and second they are probably from outside the UK
where TPS doesn't apply anyway. Not much help, I know. If it is really a
nuisance, ask your phone provider - maybe they can help?


--
Bob Mannix
(anti-spam is as easy as 1-2-3 - not)

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

First, you can't easily and second they are probably from outside the UK
where TPS doesn't apply anyway.

Very likely - it was an American voice. Damn!

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

"Bob Mannix" wrote


But how can you inform an automated call that you are registered with
the TPS?

What to do about this - ideas?

First, you can't easily and second they are probably from outside the UK
where TPS doesn't apply anyway. Not much help, I know. If it is really a
nuisance, ask your phone provider - maybe they can help?


Agreed. The effectiveness of the TPS takes a while to kick in
(weeks/months), but is effective for UK origin nuisance calls.
Worth getting call line id and a phone that can display caller number (if
you haven't already). Even better if it will display your phone book entry
for the number.
We seem to get a spate of International calls every three months or so. If
you have an answering service, the automated call appears to recognise this
and cuts off as soon as the answer machine is activated.

Phil

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

Eusebius wrote:

What to do about this - ideas?

There's a device developed to help.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7682111.stm
or http://www.truecall.co.uk

--
Adrian C

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

Andy Evans wrote:
First, you can't easily and second they are probably from outside the UK
where TPS doesn't apply anyway.

Very likely - it was an American voice. Damn!

At home I'm TPS-registered, ex-directory and have a very peaceful
existence. However I recently stayed in a rented house in the US, where
I was bombarded daily by automated calls during which a recorded voice
would extol me to buy insurance, a new car etc etc. Completely
intolerable - I don't know how anyone could live with that!

David

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
Eusebius wrote:

What to do about this - ideas?

There's a device developed to help.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7682111.stm
or http://www.truecall.co.uk

--
Adrian C


Is there anyway to block 'Number Withheld' calls, ie., without the phone
ringing.

mark

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

"mark" wrote


Is there anyway to block 'Number Withheld' calls, ie., without the phone
ringing.


Yes - it usually comes at an additional nominal cost from your service
provider.

Phil

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

On May 7, 1:39*pm, Huge wrote:
On 2009-05-07, mark wrote:





"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
Eusebius wrote:

What to do about this - ideas?

There's a device developed to help.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7682111.stm
orhttp://www.truecall.co.uk

--
Adrian C

Is there anyway to block 'Number Withheld' calls, *ie., without the phone
ringing.

If you do this, it is likely your Doctor, the emergency services and so on
will not be able to call you.

None of them have ever called me. If I need them, I call them. most
large organisations that want individuals to remain anonymous will
have a number that they present (e.g. the main switchboard), rather
than the numbers of individual extensions, so are not "number
withheld" anyway.

MBQ

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

TheScullster wrote:
"mark" wrote

Is there anyway to block 'Number Withheld' calls, ie., without the phone
ringing.


Yes - it usually comes at an additional nominal cost from your service
provider.


Which I think is completely wrong :-(

Sod even the nominal cost. If the facility to withhold identity is free,
so _free_ should be the means to refuse contact until the results of
identity (or other) checks is determined.

--
Adrian C

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

TheScullster wrote:
"mark" wrote


Is there anyway to block 'Number Withheld' calls, ie., without the
phone ringing.


Yes - it usually comes at an additional nominal cost from your service
provider.

Phil

Anonymous Call Reject costs £3.91 a month from BT (ex-VAT I think) which is
above my "nominal" threshhold.

--
Reentrant

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

On Thu, 7 May 2009 14:56:49 +0100, "Reentrant" had
this to say:

TheScullster wrote:
"mark" wrote


Is there anyway to block 'Number Withheld' calls, ie., without the
phone ringing.


Yes - it usually comes at an additional nominal cost from your service
provider.

Phil

Anonymous Call Reject costs £3.91 a month from BT (ex-VAT I think) which is
above my "nominal" threshhold.

It's still worth it, from a nuisance POV.

--
Frank Erskine

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

On 7 May, 12:16, Adrian C wrote:
Eusebius wrote:

What to do about this - ideas?

There's a device developed to help.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7682111.stm
or http://www.truecall.co.uk

If they pegged this thing at a reasonable price (thirty quid sounds
about right) they might actually sell them. Good idea, but not worth
£100.

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

In article
,
Eusebius wrote:
I get the odd sales call from humans which I don't object too much to,
but recently I've had about one automated call a day. These are
usually about noon, but yesterday I had a call at 1am in the night.
This is really intolerable.

I did a search and found the Telephone Preference System :
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/tps/

But how can you inform an automated call that you are registered with
the TPS?

The automated calls still come from a list of numbers rather than random,
though, and decent firms will remove your number from that list if you
register with the TPS. Of course it can't be enforced with overseas based
call centres, but many of these do observe it. They're not gaining
anything by wasting time with someone who won't react to cold calling -
possibly quite the reverse.
My 'nuisance' calls reduced to near zero after registering. Maybe a
couple a month now.

--
*The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

In article ,
mark wrote:
Is there anyway to block 'Number Withheld' calls, ie., without the
phone ringing.

Sadly many switchboards do this - so you'll likely loose some calls you
actually want.

--
*If you remember the '60s, you weren't really there

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2009-05-07, mark wrote:

"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
Eusebius wrote:

What to do about this - ideas?

There's a device developed to help.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7682111.stm
or http://www.truecall.co.uk

--
Adrian C


Is there anyway to block 'Number Withheld' calls, ie., without the phone
ringing.

If you do this, it is likely your Doctor, the emergency services and so on
will not be able to call you.


The police can. I am not sure how they do it. I asked a PO and he said they
stick a code in front before dialling. It still does not show their number
on my phone.

Adam

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

On 7 May, 12:32, Lobster wrote:
Andy Evans wrote:
First, you can't easily and second they are probably from outside the UK
where TPS doesn't apply anyway.

Very likely - it was an American voice. Damn!

At home I'm TPS-registered, ex-directory and have a very peaceful
existence. *However I recently stayed in a rented house in the US, where
I was bombarded daily by automated calls during which a recorded voice
would extol me to buy insurance, a new car etc etc. Completely
intolerable - I don't know how anyone could live with that!

David

We are too, and never get any nuisance calls. However, I recently
discovered why I only ever seem to get my brother's voicemail - that
he won't answer any "Private Number" calls (which is how ex-directory
is shown). BT told me that if I prepend 1470 to the call the number
will show up - sort of like 141 in reverse.

Edward

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

The automated calls still come from a list of numbers rather than random,
though, and decent firms will remove your number from that list if you
register with the TPS. Of course it can't be enforced with overseas based
call centres, but many of these do observe it.

As far as I am aware, if the call centre is overseas, but is calling on
behalf of a UK company, the TPS rules still apply.
Since registering with the TPS many years ago, I only receive at max about 2
unsolicited calls per year, and after having a few choice words with those
that do break the rules, and mentioning that they are being reported to the
TPS, not one of them has risked ringing again.

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

On Thu, 7 May 2009 15:39:40 UTC, wrote:

We are too, and never get any nuisance calls. However, I recently
discovered why I only ever seem to get my brother's voicemail - that
he won't answer any "Private Number" calls (which is how ex-directory
is shown). BT told me that if I prepend 1470 to the call the number
will show up - sort of like 141 in reverse.

Yes, but ex-directory has nothing to do with it - they are two different
things.

I am ex-directory for work reasons (nuisance though it is) but I
declined the option to withold my number by default.

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

Eusebius wrote:
I get the odd sales call from humans which I don't object too much to,
but recently I've had about one automated call a day. These are
usually about noon, but yesterday I had a call at 1am in the night.
This is really intolerable.

I did a search and found the Telephone Preference System :
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/tps/

But how can you inform an automated call that you are registered with
the TPS?

What to do about this - ideas?

Cordially,

andy evans

The TPS refer to this lot for silent calls. I have used it to good effect.
Calls we have had coming up as unknown or international mostly seem to
come from BT or their agents. BT lied to me but after several attempts
they did finally stop calling their agents calling me.

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

Invisible Man wrote:
Eusebius wrote:
I get the odd sales call from humans which I don't object too much to,
but recently I've had about one automated call a day. These are
usually about noon, but yesterday I had a call at 1am in the night.
This is really intolerable.

I did a search and found the Telephone Preference System :
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/tps/

But how can you inform an automated call that you are registered with
the TPS?

What to do about this - ideas?

Cordially,

andy evans

The TPS refer to this lot for silent calls. I have used it to good effect.
Calls we have had coming up as unknown or international mostly seem to
come from BT or their agents. BT lied to me but after several attempts
they did finally stop calling their agents calling me.

Now complete with link!

http://www.ukdatait.co.uk/cgi-bin/sgAddNumber.cgi

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

If it were just crank calls I could help - but I think you are talking
about marketing calls.

When I was picking up a girl to babysit for me her sister was getting
crank calls. They were calling and hanging up over and over again. Well
I knew that the receiver of the call hears the ring slightly before the
caller does. So I held down the receiver and waited for it to ring. As
soon as it rang, but before they knew it had rung, I let off and let go
with a Faye Ray & 1/2 bone chilling scream. (The teenager in the room,
who shares his 'music' with the neighborhood said his ears rang for an
hour afterward.) But the calls stopped. Bad part was, I didn't know her
father was answering the line in the basement and also got an earful.
LOL


--
Dymphna
Message origin: www.TRAVEL.com

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

On 7 May, 13:39, Huge wrote:
On 2009-05-07, mark wrote:





"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
Eusebius wrote:

What to do about this - ideas?

There's a device developed to help.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7682111.stm
orhttp://www.truecall.co.uk

--
Adrian C

Is there anyway to block 'Number Withheld' calls, *ie., without the phone
ringing.

If you do this, it is likely your Doctor, the emergency services and so on
will not be able to call you.

--
* * * * * * "It would be thought a hard government that should
* * * * * * *tax its people one tenth part." ~ Benjamin Franklin
* * * * * * * *[email me at huge {at} huge (dot) org dot uk]

Your insurance company, your daughter phoning from work .... the list
goes on. Not a good idea.

And don't be a smart arse and say you don't have an insurance company
or a daughter - I'm just quoting those as an example of the fact that
nearly all businesses withhold their number.

Rob

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

Invisible Man wrote:


Now complete with link!

http://www.ukdatait.co.uk/cgi-bin/sgAddNumber.cgi

Well that looks interesting. Now we'll just have to wait and see...

--
Rod

Hypothyroidism is a seriously debilitating condition with an insidious
onset.
Although common it frequently goes undiagnosed.
www.thyromind.info www.thyroiduk.org www.altsupportthyroid.org

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
TheScullster wrote:
"mark" wrote

Is there anyway to block 'Number Withheld' calls, ie., without the
phone ringing.


Yes - it usually comes at an additional nominal cost from your service
provider.


Which I think is completely wrong :-(

Sod even the nominal cost. If the facility to withhold identity is free,
so _free_ should be the means to refuse contact until the results of
identity (or other) checks is determined.

--
Adrian C

That is brilliant logic. Why pay for other peoples deception?

Adam

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

On Thu, 07 May 2009 15:16:15 GMT, "ARWadsworth"
had this to say:


"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2009-05-07, mark wrote:

"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
Eusebius wrote:

What to do about this - ideas?

There's a device developed to help.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7682111.stm
or http://www.truecall.co.uk

--
Adrian C


Is there anyway to block 'Number Withheld' calls, ie., without the phone
ringing.

If you do this, it is likely your Doctor, the emergency services and so on
will not be able to call you.


The police can. I am not sure how they do it. I asked a PO and he said they
stick a code in front before dialling. It still does not show their number
on my phone.

Years ago I had a call from the local police. After they'd hung up I
did a '1471' and a Manchester number was given.

--
Frank Erskine
Sunderland

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

On Thu, 7 May 2009 06:37:48 -0700 (PDT), Man at B&Q wrote:

If you do this, it is likely your Doctor, the emergency services and
so on will not be able to call you.

None of them have ever called me. If I need them, I call them.

So you are a hermit? No next of kin or loved ones that could end up in
A&E?

--
Cheers
Dave.

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

On May 7, 6:52 pm, Rob G wrote:
I'm just quoting those as an example of the fact that
nearly all businesses withhold their number.

Evidence of that "fact"?

MBQ

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

On Thu, 07 May 2009 19:35:30 +0100, Dave Liquorice wrote:

On Thu, 7 May 2009 06:37:48 -0700 (PDT), Man at B&Q wrote:

If you do this, it is likely your Doctor, the emergency services and
so on will not be able to call you.

None of them have ever called me. If I need them, I call them.

So you are a hermit? No next of kin or loved ones that could end up in
A&E?

Here I ignore it if it's not a number I recognise (let alone it just being
withheld) - I figure if it's important they'll leave a message on the
answering machine. But then I never have liked bloody phones anyway :-)

cheers

Jules

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

On Thu, 7 May 2009 12:04:40 -0700 (PDT), "Man at B&Q"
had this to say:

On May 7, 6:52 pm, Rob G wrote:
I'm just quoting those as an example of the fact that
nearly all businesses withhold their number.

Evidence of that "fact"?

If they want your business then they'll have to give out their number,
won't they ?

:-)

--
Frank Erskine

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

In article , Adrian C
wrote:



I agree. I see a project coming on.... All I need is an old external
voice modem, a PIC chip and an SD memory card.


You forgot the "small aubergine" :-)


--
AJL Electronics (G6FGO) Ltd : Satellite and TV aerial systems
http://www.classicmicrocars.co.uk : http://www.ajlelectronics.co.uk

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

In article ,
Rob G wrote:

nearly all businesses withhold their number.

Not true, maybe except for scammers and junk callers that are unwanted
anyway. Even GCHQ now shows a presentation number. Anyone who witholds their
number is unwelcome in my opinion. If there should be a call from a
misguided caller, then they will get the "Sod off" message. If the call is
that important, they will find a way to defeat the withheld status.
Certainly on the rare occasions I have had a response from the Police, they
have use a non withheld line.

Calling from a withheld caller ID is the height of rudeness in my opinion.
My home number has had anonymous caller reject for many years, although I
resent the enormous cost.


--
AJL Electronics (G6FGO) Ltd : Satellite and TV aerial systems
http://www.classicmicrocars.co.uk : http://www.ajlelectronics.co.uk

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

Andy Luckman (AJL Electronics) wrote:
In article , Adrian C
wrote:


I agree. I see a project coming on.... All I need is an old external
voice modem, a PIC chip and an SD memory card.


You forgot the "small aubergine" :-)


Wot, no angle grinder

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

On May 7, 3:40*pm, "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:
In article ,
* *mark wrote:

Is there anyway to block 'Number Withheld' calls, *ie., without the
phone ringing.

Sadly many switchboards do this - so you'll likely loose some calls you
actually want.

So it's gone form "most businesses" in someone else's post to "many
switchboards". Does anyone have any hard *facts* about how many
"businesses" do not have any form of presentation number?

MBQ

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

In article ,
"Bob Eager" writes:
On Thu, 7 May 2009 15:39:40 UTC, wrote:

We are too, and never get any nuisance calls. However, I recently
discovered why I only ever seem to get my brother's voicemail - that
he won't answer any "Private Number" calls (which is how ex-directory
is shown). BT told me that if I prepend 1470 to the call the number
will show up - sort of like 141 in reverse.

Yes, but ex-directory has nothing to do with it - they are two different
things.

I am ex-directory for work reasons (nuisance though it is) but I
declined the option to withold my number by default.

There are (or were back when BT was a monopoly) several levels
of ex-directory. IIRC, they were...

Not in the printed directory, but available from directory enquiries.
Not in the printed directory nor available from directory enquiries,
but can be operator connected.
Not in the printed directory nor available from directory enquiries
nor operator connection.
Not even available to most BT staff.

One of these last two is called NQR "No Quoted Record".
The others all have names too such as XD, but I can't recall what
they all are now -- this was a long time ago.

You could choose one of the first 3. The last one was only available
to the likes of senior politicians, royalty, security lines, etc, and
also to a colleague back at the time who got someone in BT to mark his
line as such as a demo when they were explaining it to us. This caused
him both some amusement and some grief years later when he found it was
still marked, as there were other implications too, e.g. Faults dept
had to pass him on to a special dept to deal, as they couldn't see any
info about the line on their computers.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

Adrian C wrote:
wrote:

If they pegged this thing at a reasonable price (thirty quid sounds
about right) they might actually sell them. Good idea, but not worth
£100.

I agree. I see a project coming on.... All I need is an old external
voice modem, a PIC chip and an SD memory card. Open source project
anyone?

A friend did all this about ten years ago. It was never commercialised
because of the ECM and weapons modules.


--
Ian White

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

In article
,
Man at B&Q wrote:
On May 7, 3:40 pm, "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:
In article ,
mark wrote:

Is there anyway to block 'Number Withheld' calls, ie., without the
phone ringing.

Sadly many switchboards do this - so you'll likely loose some calls you
actually want.

So it's gone form "most businesses" in someone else's post to "many
switchboards". Does anyone have any hard *facts* about how many
"businesses" do not have any form of presentation number?

I can only speak for those I have dealings with. Two prospective employers
(I'm freelance) have switchboards which withhold the number.

--
*Who is this General Failure chap anyway - and why is he reading my HD? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

Adrian C wrote:
Eusebius wrote:

What to do about this - ideas?

There's a device developed to help.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7682111.stm
or http://www.truecall.co.uk

I recall Peter Strangman (RIP) had a setup on ISDN which took advantage of
the CLI signal coming through (a split second) before the call proper is put
through. If the number was blacklisted (perhaps even not-whitelisted) then
the computer took the line "off hook" and the caller would always get the
busy tone. I'm surprised it's taken such a long time for a commercial
product to come about, and moreso that it seems less sophisticated than what
Peter was doing 15 years ago.
--
Selah

Nuisance phone calls - how to stop them?
 

Ian White wrote:
Adrian C wrote:
wrote:

If they pegged this thing at a reasonable price (thirty quid sounds
about right) they might actually sell them. Good idea, but not worth
£100.

I agree. I see a project coming on.... All I need is an old external
voice modem, a PIC chip and an SD memory card. Open source project
anyone?

A friend did all this about ten years ago. It was never commercialised
because of the ECM and weapons modules.


Despite numerous complaints and assurances in the past BT are once more
making marketing calls to me from 08003289393. Yet another complaint to
BT and to the TPS.
BT have to be the most appalling company in the UK to try and deal with
- unless of course the Carphone Warehouse Group are as bad as they used
to be. At least I can avoid dealing with them and have for the last 2 or
3 years.